8 days Marrakech Atlas Desert tour

Day 1: Arrive at Marrakech airport.

8 days Marrakech Sahara desert trip departure: The guide of Morocco Helping Tour will meet you at the airport and pick you up at your riad/hotel accommodation.

Day 2: Marrakech sightseeing (cultural tour with a local city guide).

After breakfast in the riad, you will start exploring Marrakech “the Red City of Morocco”. Your guide will ensure that you see most of the sites with historical and cultural interest – including the famous Jemaa El Fna square, the Koutoubia Mosque, the Saadian tombs; the Palace of Bahia and the Ben Youssef Coranic School. Lunch at a restaurant near the square, then in the afternoon visit the Majorelle Gardens, and have a short visit to the new city of Marrakech. Overnight accommodation will be at the same riad.

Day 3: Marrakech – Ait Benhaddou – Ouarzazate – Rose Valley – Dades Gorges

Morocco Helping Tour guide will meet you again at Hotel/riad in Marrakech at 8:00 a.m, our tour will take us over the heart of high Atlas Mountains and Tizi n’Tichka Pass (2260m). We’ll stop to enjoy the beautiful landscapes of the mountains and the special Berber Villages on the way. Once, we cross the mountains we get to the gate of desert, the oldest and famous Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou – A Unesco World Heritage Site used as a backdrop for more than 20 films (Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, Games of Thrones…We will stop for lunch, then visit this old mud kasbah. Then we will travel through the city of Ouarzazate (Hollywood of Africa) – with biggest cinema studios – after then, we continue south to the Valley of Roses where around 400 tons of rose petals are picked every year and sent to be processed into rose water,which we called it also as the distillation of roses in order to produce the creams and perfumes. Later, we will drive all along the road of thousand kasbahs before arriving at Dades Valley, overnight in a hotel /riad overlooking the Valley.

Day 4: Dades Gorges – Todra Gorges – Erfoud – Merzouga – Sahara Desert

Today after breakfast in the hotel/riad and we will set off to Todra valley: a green fertile valley surrounded by old mud villages, then we drive around 14 km, we get to Todra gorges: a canyon rising to 500m in a valley dotted with Palm trees and Berber Villages. After lunch in the gorge, we will drive to the Desert (Erg chebbi) passing by an old underground irrigation system (Khettarat), which is a system that help people to water their farms. We will continue towards south, we reach Sahara desert where your camels are waiting to give you a ride crossing the golden dunes. The final stop will be at the camel place where we are going to ride them and spend an overnight in the nomadic tent and enjoy the company of a band playing Berber music under the stars in the heart of the desert/ Sahara, This a beautiful experience that you might need to film in the desert/ Sahara.

Day 5: Exploring the desert area (culture and history)

After breakfast in the riad/hotel you will start an explorative journey of the area. You’ll visit the Gnawa people, originally slaves brought from Sudan, to experience their music and lifestyle. After that, we will drive in desert area where you will have the opportunity to meet the nomad families still living in Berber tents and explore their way of life. Today our lunch will be local meal (Berber pezza) with a local family. You may also visit the souk in Rissani, a traditional town which was the origin of the ruling family in Morocco and the meeting place of the Caravans trading as far as Timbuctou in Mali. Here you will see a lot of men hooded and women veiled. After this long journey you’ll be welcomed with a glass of mint tea before you check in to your riad/ hotel where your dinner and breakfast are included.

Day 6: Merzouga (Erg chebi) – Alnif- Nkoub – Ouarzazate

We will have a traditional breakfast at the riad. Later on, we will start our journey towards the city of Ouarzazate (the Hollywood of Africa) and have some stops on the unique panoramic views among the Anti-Atlas Mountains. We will pass through many villages of different Berber tribes. The main stop will take us place in daraa valley You will wake up early to experience an amazing sunrise in the top of the big sand dunes, then, which is the largest and longest valley full of the palm trees, it considered also as the main source of the date the county. After lunch in a traditional restaurant we will drive directly to Ouarzazat where our riad accommodation takes place.

Day 7: Ouarzazate – High atlas- Marrakech

After breakfast in the riad, we will set off for Marrakech over the high Atlas Mountains. Arrival to Marrakech where you will have free afternoon to enjoy the city more.

Day 8: Transfer to the airport

We will pick you up from the riad toward the airport where the service of Morocco Helping Tours Company end.